How much is Arsenal’s squad worth, and who are the most valuable players?

By Tony Attwood

I raise the question above because of a review I saw this morning on the Football Observatory site in which various player attributes are combined to work out the worth of the players and whole squads.

The tally starts by taking six issues related to a specific player

age

position

contract

international status

experience

performance

And then adding in three from the team:

competition

results

achievements

Which gives players’ values. I am not sure anyone is saying that each value is what the player will be sold for – because of course most of these players are not going to be sold, but even so it gives a bit of an insight.

Looking at the most valuable squads, we get an interesting perspective.

1. Barcelona €682.0m

2. Chelsea €617.8m

3. Real Madrid €545.1m

4. Arsenal €466.1m

5. Liverpool €381.5m

6. Bayern München €378.9m

7. Manchester City €374.7m

8. Manchester United €337.7m

9. Tottenham €313.9m

10. Juventus €308.3m

11. PSG €285.8m

I was going to take the list to 10, in the conventional manner, but added 11 because I was surprised that the PSG squad was not valued at more.

Of course we can argue about the figures that made all these totals up, but as far as I can see they have used the same criteria all the way through. I’ll come to individual players in a moment, but for now reflect how interesting it is that our squad by these calculations is worth more than the super-rich kids like Man C and Man U.

It is also interesting how Liverpool seem to have a valuable squad and yet made such a pig’s ear of the league this year. Still, Sturridge, Can, Henderson, Coutinho and Sterling add up to a few pennies.

And as we might expect over half of the top ten clubs in valuation are in the Premier League.

One other interesting point occurs a bit further down the table where Southampton come 15th on €197.6m and Everton 16th on €185.9 ahead of teams like Dortmund, Valencia, Internazionale and Wolfsburg.

So who are the players who give us this valuation? And remember the criteria used above – the value is enhanced by a low age, and long contract and the standing of the club, among other things.

In the table below the first number is the position of the player in the top 100 most valuable players. The figure in brackets is the date of the end of the contract and the figure at the end the estimated value.

9. Alexis Sánchez. (2018) Age 26. €67.8-74.6m

40. Mesut Özil. (2018) Age 26. €34.1-37.6m

44. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. (2018) Age 21. €33.2-36.5m

46. Santi Cazorla. (2017) Age 30. €32.2-35.4m

47. Danny Welbeck. (2019) Age 24. €32.1-35.3m

49. Aaron Ramsey (2019) Age 24. €31.8-35.0m

60. Jack Wilshere (2018) Age 23. €28.5-31.4m

73. Olivier Giroud (2018) Age 28. €25.4-27.9m

85. Calum Chambers (2020) Age 20. €23.6-26.0m

So we can see Alexis Sánchez is on the up and Mesut Özil on the down in valuation. Alex the Ox is our third most valuable player despite all his injuries because of his age. Danny Welbeck has shot up in value and Giroud is up to – he cost around €15m

But consider also Santi Caz, who is now 30 as it says, so supposedly past his best. We bought him for around €17.5m. Now on the figures above he is worth heading towards twice that.

It is of course just one way of doing it. A bit like going to an estate agent when you are moving house. Every time I have gone in to buy a house I’ve been told the village I want to move to is “much sought after” and so prices are “at a premium”. Then three years later when I want to move suddenly, and for no reason I can ever ascertain, the village is “not much in demand these days” and prices have “slipped back”. Funny that.

Anyway, I’m not trying to suggest that these figures tell us the value of players or their relative merits – but it is interesting that using a consistent style of measurement throughout we seem to have accrued such a valuable squad.

There are a couple of sub-sections in the analysis where the site gives us the best performing players with one year left on their contract – a good indicator of bargains in the transfer window…

1. Xabi Alonso (Bayern München)

2. Claudio Marchisio (Juventus)

3. Patrice Evra (Juventus)

4. Nicolas N’Koulou (Marseille)

5. Carlos Tévez (Juventus)

6. Maxwell Scherrer

7. Pablo Piatti (Valencia)

8. Lars Stindl (Hannover)

9. Paulo Dybala (Palermo)

10. Dani Parejo (Valencia)

11. Zlatan Ibrahimović (PSG)

Again I wanted to go to 11 just because of who is there. Ibrahimovic has been mentioned in dispatches as a possible Arsenal player.

As for the best performing players at end of their contract they offer…

1. Dani Alves (Barcelona)

2. Jérémy Morel (Marseille)

3. Ludovic Baal (Lens)

4. André Ayew (Marseille)

5. Ricardo Carvalho (Monaco)

6. Rod Fanni (Marseille)

7. Christian Fuchs (Schalke)

8. Ignazio Abate (Milan)

9. Christian Maggio (Napoli)

10. Nigel de Jong (Milan)

Anniversary of the day

10 June 1993: Archie Macauley died. After a playing career which earned him numerous plaudits he had a very successful managerial career with Norwich, WBA and Brighton, but then, aged 50, having just taken Brighton up, he gave it all up and is said to have become a traffic warden.

31 comments to How much is Arsenal’s squad worth, and who are the most valuable players?

Very interesting stuff. Send it to Arsene Tony. You know him. Had a look at the site. No mention of Theo, at all. I guess because he has been injured for so long, there isn’t enough data to evaluate him. But add him in and Arsenal might move up the table. Surely he is in the top 100 players and his contract is coming to an end. Stirling may be valued at 73m+ because of his age but give me Theo any day. Theo is a big omission in that review.

I think Theo’s omission has to do mostly with his running out contract. You can see from the list that the earliest Arsenal’s players contract ends in 2018 and I bet you if Theo renews his contract, his value will surely go up. Maybe more than Welbeck even.

It’s sobering thought that any player on Arsenal’s books is of immediate value only when fit to perform on the field.
And bearing in mind our terrible injury record, often due to inept and/or biased refereeing, I wonder when was the last occasion Arsene selected a team from a fully fit squad. 😉

For every Arsenal player sold ( to Barcelona ,at least !) , please factor in 3 Million Pounds as our cut in the future sell on fee as in the case of that sale to Chelski , or as the CL win bonus due to us for someone who really didn’t get much playing time .
I think we also earned a tidy sum for the Bentley sale .

Squad value of £466.1M gives a near 400% increase in Squad value. (aprox)

Yet another thing Wenger gets stick for is his dealings in the transfer market, but here we have proof, that despite not being perfect, and the occasional mistake, Wenger gets it right far more than he gets it wrong, and is in fact a genius in the transfer market.

Also in the London Evening Standard on Monday they run a piece referencing the financial standings of all the top Clubs in Europe as published by ‘Brand Finance’.

The list has Manchester United in first place, then as follows:

2nd Bayern

3rd Real Madrid

4th Man City

5th Chelsea

6th Barca

7th Arsenal

The thing of note was Chelseas, according to the authors, “Incredible” £179 Million rise over the last year.

They point to the Yokohama sponsorship deal, worth an estimated £40 Million a year as one of the reasons for there rise. Fine.

But they also cite Chelseas “shrewd” transfers. Hmmmmm.

Not as shrewd as Wengers it seems, but alas Wenger turning a near 500% profit on transfers seems to be worth very little.

Also, I do understand our sponsorship deals are less than Chelseas but as far as I know they aren’t THAT much less.

It also seems United Winning nowt and blowing Millions in the transfer market hasn’t affected them at all. In fact NOT winning things seems to of done them a power of good as the Authors have increased there value by 63% or getting on for £500 Million.

I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong about our deals and we are way behind but this ‘Brand Finances’ assessments seem a bit flawed to me.

Maybe one of our Untold geniuses can get his head round it all and enlighten me as to where we seem to be going wrong despite being in a better position now than we have been for years.

A key part of a player’s transfer value is his age. Players are at their peak from about 23-29. From then it is an inexorable downhill process, although some deteriorate faster than others.

Or, to put it in another way, Theo may be better than Sterling now (I think he is when on top of his game) but he won’t have much resale value in 3 years or so, particularly as he is injury prone and relies heavily on pace. Sterling, in contrast, will likely have a high resale value in 3 years or so.

The Football Observatory figures seem to not give enough weight to age. I would suggest Santi is worth far less than calculated while Ramsey is worth far more. And who in their right mind would pay over €100mm for Cristiano Ronaldo?

Many of the players that went to Manchester had been approached outside the rules. Either their agents were corrupt or improper arrangements had been made prior to getting permission from Arsenal. The sale was forced & prices were ‘monopolised’ as there was no competition.

Players who refuse to discuss renewal of contracts generally have had illicit offers that create the situation.

Many of the players that went to Manchester had been approached outside the rules. Either their agents were corrupt or improper arrangements had been made prior to getting permission from Arsenal. The sale was forced & prices were ‘monopolised’ as there was no competition.

Players who refuse to discuss renewal of contracts generally have had illicit offers that create the situation.

Jambug – June 10, 2015 at 4:31 pm – Not sure about the payments . We will find out soon enough , but not believing a word from those ostriches . Do they have in their possession the fine print of the contract ? Can they decipher it ?
Anyway I wrote it all jest and to get some of ‘them’ to bite . Some did ! What a big whooper ! Sometimes I do feel bad for them , ….just for for a moment see , then I laugh my head off !

” Arsenal , the club that sells you quality and keeps you paying and paying and paying ….!”

Secondly , Theo !

And a general question to ‘them ‘ – just who do you think made all those players become ‘valuable assets ‘ ?

Aesene Wenger driving the ‘new’ and much improved Arsenal ride , without the usual incumbrances and old luggage . Quiet , peaceful , smooth and at his own leisurely pace . No more distracting noises and pot holes to worry about .
Comes with a special modified front bumper to err… bump off ostriches and ‘them’ that are in the way .
Order yours today ….and embrace the peace ….aaahhhhhhh !